Why Browns' Shedeur Sanders got no first-team reps before first preseason start

Some outsiders have accused the Cleveland Browns of "sabotaging" Shedeur Sanders by not giving the rookie quarterback any first-team reps as he prepared to start Cleveland's preseason opener at the Carolina Panthers on Friday night. 

For a piece updated early Friday afternoon, Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained the club's handling of Sanders from springtime workouts through Cleveland's joint practice with the Panthers on Wednesday.

"He’s had to get up to speed in all aspects of the pre-snap process, including relaying plays in the huddle, identifying the defense, sliding the protections, directing the motions and making adjustments," Cabot wrote about Sanders. "...The fact that Sanders had to catch up on the terminology, calling complex plays and other pre-snap procedures is not an indictment on his football acumen, which is extremely high. It’s just that he hadn’t done it to the extent that [2025 third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel] had during his six years in college. While Sanders has had six offensive coordinators, the scheme, terminology and concepts weren’t necessarily overhauled by all of them."

Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has made it clear since May that Sanders is his fourth-choice option at quarterback behind veteran Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett and Gabriel. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted, the Browns will keep Flacco in figurative bubble wrap on Friday night after Gabriel and Pickett were recently slowed by hamstring injuries that will keep them sidelined for the Panthers game. 

Florio added that the Browns are not so "dysfunctional" that they'd set up one of their own players to fail in his preseason debut. Cabot expanded on that take. 

"They’ll keep it simple and call the same plays that have enabled Sanders to ascend steadily up the learning curve and build confidence in camp," Cabot said about what the Browns will run with Sanders in the lineup on Friday. "What’s more, he’ll be working mostly with the same backups he has all camp, the players with whom he’s developed chemistry, such as rookie receivers Gage Larvadain and Luke Floriea. He’ll also get more of a chance to throw to second-teamers such as Diontae Johnson, Kaden Davis and DeAndre Carter, with whom he’s worked a lot over the past two weeks in the wake of Pickett’s injury."

Multiple reporters who cover the Browns repeated throughout training camp practices that those running the club currently view Sanders as a developmental project who may see playing time during the second half of the 2025 season if Cleveland has a losing record and Gabriel fails to win any starts he receives. As of Friday afternoon, FanDuel Sportsbook had Sanders as a massive +3500 betting underdog to emerge as the Browns' QB1 for their Week 1 game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7. 

Such information seems to indicate Sanders will stay put on the Cleveland depth chart regardless of how he plays at Carolina's Bank of America Stadium in front of a national NFL Network audience. As of Friday, it was unknown if Gabriel and/or Pickett will take snaps in Cleveland's preseason matchup at the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 16.